Orlando Magic are in a free agency dilemma | What comes next after Malik Monk | Case for/against KCP

Orlando Magic are in a free agency dilemma | What comes next after Malik Monk | Case for/against KCP

Malik Monk Is essentially officially off the board so where do the magic go next while they might be thinking smaller than we initially thought and free agency is not kind of fun anymore we’ll get to that on today’s episode of Locked on Magic you are locked on Magic your daily Orlando Magic podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and you are indeed locked on Magic today is June 23rd it will be June 24th 2024 my name is Philip Rosman Reich I’m the senior writer over at Orlando magic.com course find me on Twitter Philip rror on today’s episode of locked on Magic a wrench thrown in the Orlando Magic’s free agent PL free agency plans why the Malik mon signing bottles the direction of the magic and why the magic might be thinking smaller than we thought we’ll talk about one of the free agents that they could use with that small thinking and why this free agency isn’t turning out to be the fun time we thought it would we’ll get to all that coming up here in just a moment but first we want to thank you again for making lock on Magic part of your day every day no matter when you listen to us whether it’s first in the morning whether it’s right when we up we truly appreciate you making lockon magic part of your day every day remember there’s a great lock on podcast covering every single team in the NBA to search for lock on and the team you’re looking for the lockon podcast Network it’s your team every day today’s episode of lockon magic is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more as the playoffs wind down the Sports Stop sporting like we want them to that’s the unfortunate part of Summer but FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long visit fanduel.com lockon to get started so I was sitting here recording my Podcast Thursday night uh for Friday talking uh what did I talk about Friday talking about the Paul George window opening wide open with the report that the Philadelphia 76ers were no longer hotly pursuing Paul George who knows what’s true at this point when the Malik monk news broke I was beginning to promote my PO promote the pond and saying I’m not touching Malik monk we’ll deal with it on Monday so we’ve had a little bit of the weekend to to to sit with things and talk and look I’m gonna sit here and say this obviously free agency is about agency you know the ability to make choices everyone has their own decisions has their own priorities has their own things that they want as a small as as a follower of a small Market team I am happy to see a player decide to stay in a small market like Sacramento I love everything that the kings are about um I love the things that they’re doing they are our friends I am not upset that Malik monk is staying with the Sacramento Kings I’ll explain why that was probably where I was leaning with who the magic should spend their money on but him signing a fouryear I think it was a fouryear $78 million deal is what’s being or agreeing to a four year7 78 million deal no one can sign anything till July 6 um was obviously like way under the value that we were thinking um I remember I I did the Pod with uh Matt George of locked on Kings back in May or in April uh before heading off for game five and him and US kind of agreeing like yeah $23 million per year is probably where the Kings draw the line probably where the magic draw the line Sacramento obviously limited a little bit by what they can offer him because of their early bird rights they were able to hit that number and I think what this says at the end of the day is that aik monk was very comfortable in Sacramento again I’m not going to sit here and be upset with a player making decisions that are important to him he likes Sacramento Sacramento resurrected his career it’s not always about money but I also think that this decision while monk very much made it clear that that that he’d like to stay in Sacramento even if he’d like the opportunity to start somewhere this decision to me speaks to something else that’s going on in the market and something that has been somewhat corroborated by reporting so Malik Monk’s off the board he got a four-year deal with the Sacramento kaks it is looking increasingly more likely that the Orlando Magic are not looking to give out four-year deals and so while the magic might have been able to put more money on the table for Malik Monk and obviously they couldn’t have negotiated with him yet wink wink nudge nudge say no more say no more um while there’s not supposed to be direct lines of communication between teams and agents right now let’s not pretend that there’s not back channels that everyone doesn’t have some idea of where those offers are going to fall or you know they’re starting to set up meetings I assume so wink wink nudge nudge Malik monk probably wasn’t getting the offer that he wanted from new Orlando Magic whether it was money whether it was years whether it was Role if the magic were interested and there’s reporting to suggest the magic were interested but who really knows if the magic would have been interested we’re doing all kinds of strange things with verbs today um if the magic would have been interested when free agency opened monk was perfectly happy with what the Kings offered and that would be backed up by what’s been reported about the magic throughout the weekend obviously the Paul George news was the big one um we talked we talked about it that the door was wide open for the magic to go sign Paul George with Philadelphia 76ers seemingly losing interest in him or backing off their interest in him I don’t think they’ve lost interest in him he’s a really good player um that that he wants a deal similar to what Kawhi Leonard got which was three years $152 million the Clippers balking at that and a magic being one of the few teams that could use him and would have somewhere close to the money to offer that again about we’re looking at about $50 million a cap room if if we’re really being serious here but all the reporting seems to suggest that’s not what the magic want to do all of the reporting over the weekend most of involving Klay Thompson who according to Anthony Slater of the athletic uh has not has kind of been at a stand still with the Golden State Warriors and according to Anthony Slater of the athletic the magic and Klay Thompson have been have had no traction again they’re not supposed to be in communication yet let’s not pretend they’re not but I kind of hard to believe there’s no traction when they’re not supposed to be talking with each other but there reporting and and this you know has been speculated on by Jake fiser of Yahoo sports and it’s certainly something that is out there in the atmosphere again is that the magic don’t want to give out any long-term deals that especially for kind of Aging players and then look we talked about Klay Thompson a lot he’d help a lot Paul George he would help a lot but for players on that timeline or players of that ilk the magic seemed to want to limit themselves to two or maybe two plus one year deals you know two with a team option on third or a player option on third whatever it is they wanted to limit themselves they’re not willing to break the bank the joke I’ve been making with people is especially the Detroit Pistons because the Pistons do have a lot of cap room and not a lot of Leverage because they’re not a good team um the P someone is going to drop a big brown sack with a dollar sign on it and a bunch of money is Gonna Come spilling out that’s typically how we think a free agency right is oh we got a lot of money let’s just go spend it let’s just Bend as much as we can that’s not how the league is working anymore and that’s not how the magic are working because it’s not just reporting about Klay Thompson it’s reporting about D’Angelo Russell too whom the magic have been connected to for a long time since April I remember talking about him in New Orleans in April but the magic don’t want to go beyond three years they don’t you know there’s there’s even been some reporting I believe it was I believe it was uh also Jake fiser who report who’s reporting that magic may not even want to hit the $18.5 million doar or $19 million that Russell is turn would be declining in a player option so you know this is the ultimate question then what kind of contract are the magic looking to give like again I would argue and I’ve argued this throughout the whole summer the magic need to spend some money on a starting guard I’d prefer a point guard but a starting guard 20 20 20 to 25 million million dollars there they need to spend 15 to18 million on a backup Wing preferably a shooter um about a mid level on that and then spend the rest of their money to get a third Center you know three to five to1 million and that’s their summer but it feels like the magic want flexibility still that the magic aren’t saying oh we have a lot of money and yeah we got to watch out for being too far over the T and understand that fron vogner Jaylen Suggs and pal vaner are all about to get paid and so we got to we can’t spend frivolously here but the magic aren’t just gonna sit down and say we’re ready to win you’re a good player we have money come take our money the magic it appears at least by this reporting and we’ll find out next week by this by the time I’m recording this episode next Sunday we’re going to know a lot more um we may go live on Sunday uh stay tuned on that um the magic aren’t just spending to spend and that’s the way they should be they should be looking for players who fit their idea and who they are and what they need and and everything they’re looking for they absolutely should do that but they’re not willing to commit all the way and that’s been kind of the weird part about this free agency I want to talk a little bit about why that approach has kind of taken the bite out of this fre agency and and really maybe put the Magic in a precarious position but if if this is the magic strategy if they’re going for the shortterm high paid route if they’re looking for the Bruce Brown contract then we got to leave some space and talk about the player they’re most likely to put that kind of money down for we’ll talk about cavius Caldwell Pope what the Bruce Brown contract is and why he’s not the best fit for it we’re going to get to that coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick work from our friends over at e Bay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof rack exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with more than 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with 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on the lockdown sportsday 247 streaming Channel with local experts who know their team best they can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of lockdown podcast Network your team every day let’s roll things back to last year last year we all thought the Orlando Magic were going to spend some money um they had some money to spend there were some interesting players on the market I don’t think all of us were completely sold on all of them just kind of like we are now but uh we thought the magic were going to spend a little money and particularly a lot of magic fans had their eyes set on Bruce Brown he’s obviously coming off a great run with the Denver Nuggets a key part of a championship team maybe a little undiz but a great defender and an excellent three-point shooter I had Bruce Brown on my list for several years um I think even before he got to Denver I had him on my free agent unless the last time he was a free agent we all thought okay the magic are G to be real players for him and then in swooped the Indiana Pacers a two-year $45 million contract that was way over Market with a team option on the second year but way over market and I think a lot of teams just kind of tapped out and said go ahead you’re gonna pay him that much go ahead turns out that was a pretty good deal for the Pacers because they used Bruce Brown to trade him for seaka so honestly I would argue the magic have to spend money this summer to create that big salary that they can use in a trade I know from experience right now during our lockdown mock draft trading what the magic have available is really tough um we’ll talk a little bit more about that on Wednesday uh for Wednesday’s episode to lead into the draft but the magic are not a good trade position right now I know there’s a you know I’ve been able to work a few things and get pretty far on some things but there are issues with the magic being able to make trades right now um they need some salary ballast they need some big salaries that they can move um and so again is it Quay Thompson or Paul George that I don’t know but this is the argument for doing that for making this kind of a move and if there’s a player that is a candidate for being the kind of Bruce Brown of this free agency class it’s cavius Caldwell Pope he’s making about $15 million this year he’s expected to opt out of his contract hit free agent um if he hasn’t done so already I don’t believe he has um he’s expected to opt out of his contract hit free agency and is looking for a starting salary somewhere near $20 million a year um cavius cwell Pope is 31 this is probably his last big bite at the Apple averaged a little bit more than 10 points per game uh last year let me pull up all of his stats there it is um uh he averaged about 10 points per game last year was an excellent three-point shooter at 3 uh at 40.6% career 36.9% shoot from three he shot better than 40% in three of the past four years playing alongside Nicole yic will do that is frankly your typical three and D player like that’s that’s what I you know when you think of like what a three andd player is that’s cavius Caldwell Pope he is solid defensively he can guard all three perimeter positions he knows what he’s doing he’s a two-time NBA champion he won with the nuggets in 2023 one with the Lakers in 2020 he he would be on on the face an excellent addition to the team and so if you’re signing him to a two-year let’s give him the same two-year $45 million contract that is overmarking as far as his experience goes um and if something big comes along now you have a $20 million salary that you can move you’ve kind of slotted that salary and again like I said my my vision for the offseason you got $50 million a cap room you do have to spend you know for the sake of argument you do have to spend 90% of it so you have to spend 40 to 45% of that I believe um spend 20 to 25 on it on it on a starting player spend 15 to 18 of it on a on a high level Reserve to come off your bench and then the rest of it on on a center uh and then minimum guys to fill out the roster that’s that’s how I would approach this summer those are the kind of three places that I’m looking to add and then obviously you got your draft pick your Anthony black jet Howard you got those kind of pieces moving around we’ll see and then you know maybe the magic keep Joe Engles you know mo vager comes back on the uh comes back probably on the room room exception all this stuff is you know there there are three clear slots essentially is what I’m saying uh that I think the magic would fill cavius callwell Pope though is not Bruce Brown Bruce Brown was still kind of youngish he still had the top part of his career coming and his skill set to me without looking too deep into the numbers his skill set to me screamed that he was in the right role and could continue to play play that Ro especially for a drastically different team to me cavius Caldwell Pope is not that the way he gets his shots the the kind of shooter that he is I’m not a 100% sure translates to the magic because while the magic do need some salary ballast they need quality players and whoever they grab with that big salary with that starter level salary it needs to be someone who fits the roster that makes the roster better that keeps them competitive while they’re searching while they’re waiting for that right player to come along if it if it ever does last year kavus skullwell Pope shot only 38.3% on catch and shoot threo for reference Gary Harris was at 37% so this a guy that’s averaging about 10 points per game on on a little bit more than four three-point attempts per game who’s only slightly better than Gary Harris despite the overall better percentage and I think this is the bigger Point here yes kavus Pope is better he’s a better Defender I’m not saying he wouldn’t be an upgrade over Gary Harris but he would be just a better Gary Harris he wouldn’t solve the playmaking problem he’s a fifth starter for the nuggets and again that works really well when you’re on the nuggets the nuggets are one of the best offensive teams in the league the Nuggets actually are the only team that shot fewer three-pointers in the magic this year they were just a better three-point shooting team which is why it’s not a big deal that they don’t have volume the magic need volume until the Magic Pro they’re a decent three-point shooting team they need volume they need as many bites at that apple as they can get um and so a higher percentage catch and shoot guy someone who’s going to take more threes my concern and this is generally my concern with even a guy like Klay Thompson and and asking myself asking yourself okay how do the magic get their three-pointers um cavius callwell Pope is just GNA be what he was in Denver you know it’s silly to ask are you going to pay $25 million for a guy that’s only average 10.1 points per game if the goal is to spin your cap room forward a year it’s fine whatever you don’t have a problem with the Joe Engles contract because you knew there was an out again this is the Joe Engles contract is the same deal as the Bruce Brown contract the magic signed Joe Engles to an above market rate gave themselves an out after one year they were the ones in control if they need that $ 11 million in Joe Engles contract they’ll cut him and we we actually expect them to decline that option and pick up that $11 million for free agency this summer we’ll see what happens on Saturday when when that deadline is or Sunday when that deadline is um but to me cavius cell Pope just isn’t enough of a meaningful upgrade um yes I think he would help I think he has respective defenses and and I say this all the time your ability to be a good shooter or your ability to space the floor is more about the respect you’re given as a shooter than anything else tavius callwell po as a 38% catch and shoot three-pointer will get so much more respect than Jaylen Suggs is a 39% overall shooter that’s that’s just unfortunate reality Jaylen Suggs has not gained the respect um that that would bring and so with k with kcp I think you’re just getting more of the same like would he be more reliable than Gary Harris sure but honestly I I would still argue this the problem with Gary Harris was not that he didn’t get the ball enough it’s or or that he didn’t do enough with the ball in his hands problem was the manager couldn’t get him enough shots I I said this after last year I still believe this and I know he had a really bad playoffs and that that is a reason to replace him and gavius cwell Pope would be a better version of Gary Harris but he’s not improving the other parts of your roster so instead it feels like you’re in this moment of stasis and frankly this is the time to be aggressive um you know you got to find the right guy I’m I’m not sitting here saying just throw money at someone to throw money at someone but this is the time to be aggressive this is the time to go out and find the player that fits that adds something to your team that does something different that you can experiment and observe you know you you will have a Gary Harris type whether it’s Caleb Houston or jet how you know how much of those guys can you rely on that’s a fair question you can bring back Gary Harris for all for all I care I don’t think out of the realm of possibility but to me cavius cwell Pope doesn’t push the team forward meaningfully enough and all you’d be signing him for is to trade him down the road and frankly maybe this is the wrong approach to things and and this is just not maybe the cap person’s way to approach things I don’t think you signed a player with the intention of trading them later I think you signed a player because you believe they will make your team better and maybe that’s naive of me maybe I’m being idealistic about that and that’s just not the reality of the salary cap world anymore and again I agree the magic needs some salary ball they have to spend some money this summer um and they should spend it wisely but they should spend it but to me kcp just he doesn’t do enough to justify the investment and he doesn’t do enough for me to say this team is meaningfully better for adakin if if the magic big signing this offseason is cavius Caldwell Pope to me that’s a failure on the Magic’s part because if you want cavius calwell Pope Klay Thompson’s better Klay Thompson’s the better option maybe not the same defensively but the better option buddy healed is honestly the better option and cheaper and you can go out and get someone else that can help you and that gets to our problem here that gets to the central problem why we’re in this discussion why we’re in this part of the offseason now this just isn’t a good free agency class or it doesn’t have what the magic are looking for in free agency we’ll talk about how free agency has turned into a nightmare coming up here in just a moment but first it’s time for quick word from our friends over at FanDuel look I love sports sports are the best summer is kind of the Dead time there’s no NBA NHL’s about to finish I love my soccer as much as anybody I’ve been watching Copa America all day uh and Euro um go USA um the Orlando Pride continued to dominate the nwsl Orlando City got a surprisingly great win this weekend uh but you know that’s that’s not for everybody and as the typical Sports season winds down and some are leaving us only with baseball it’s not as fun but let me tell you FanDuel lets you keep the sports going whenever you want all you have to do is open the app and dream up bets anytime you’re in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long so head over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most of your summer if you want to bet on the magic to win the championship you can already do that on on FanDuel already I can actually look up those odds for you right now if I can find them um right now the Boston Celtics of course favorites to win at plus 300 the magic at a lowly plus 8,000 they actually have the worst odds among all teams that made the playoffs last year that’s unacceptable in fact the magic are sixth not even sixth one two three four five six seven eighth in odds to win the Eastern Conference at plus 3100 that’s frankly insulting so head over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most of your summer and show some support for the magic I don’t know if it’s throwing money away but you know plus 3100 means you put a dollar down you get $310 that’s pretty good um maybe maybe or $31 you should maybe try that uh good good bet to hedge FanDuel is an official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball so we’re not quite at free agency yet we we have one big thing to get to before we get to free agency and Wednesday and Thursday are going to change the free agency landscape we are going to have something different to say and something new to get to talk about after after uh Wednesday and Thursday after the NBA draft um we will talk NBA Draft tomorrow we will talk NBA draft in the whole offseason in General on Wednesday we will talk who the magic picked in the NBA draft uh thir uh for Thursday’s episode we will talk Thursday about the second round and everything else and kind of recap the draft prepare for free agency uh for Friday there will be an episode Saturday we will hear from the Magic’s draft pick or whatever happened and then actually I’m probably gonna uh do a show Sunday prepping you for free agency um we I’ll either go live Saturday night or Sunday or Sunday at during free agency I may I may do that Saturday so I’ll make that decision in the next 24 hours so if you’re you’ve made it this far live show this weekend I I will promise a live show this weekend we’ll get your questions and we’ll talk we’ll talk everything about the off season so it’s GNA be a busy week it’s going to be a very very very busy week [Music] um and so we got this big hurdle in the middle of it with the draft and and the draft could change everything but let me just sit here and say this um we’ve gone over a lot of the big names in free agency from Paul George to tyus Jones to Malik monk to uh Klay Thompson to now K kav’s called WP obviously this Danel Russell like kcp is the smallest name we’ve gone over and I have to say this um every player we’ve discussed and I think honestly every player most magic fans have had on their list to me has sort of a fatal flaw that might prevent the magic from going after them except for Paul George like I said I have no basketball reason not to chase Paul George um I I think he would be a great fit for this magic team I think he would solve a lot of problems for this team both shooting and the playmaking um and and the leadership and the locker room leadership um but I understand the hesitancy to give him like a full two-year 85 million contract or whatever whatever the case may be I I agree with the hesitancy to do that I I don’t think you should throw all your money at one guy um I think this is an opportunity to add a bunch of guys uh but Paul Geor is the only one that I’ve really sat here and said yeah I I I can’t think of a reason not to go for him in the injury concerns about it there’s no basketball reason not to Chas him there are other reasons not to Jason but to me there’s no basketball reason but everyone else you know has something that just screams they’re not a magic guy like Malik monk not quite a point guard not really a Defender d’angel Russell not a Defender at all um can be maybe like but maybe too much needs the ball in his hands too much or wants the ball in his hands too much especially at the price you’re going to pay can you get him at a lower price like you know those are probably the top guys but like you know Craig Thompson like I said in that episode him just being on the floor would transform this magic team I I I think he would be a really I do think he would be a good addition even if he’s his defense is slowed down even if his shooting slowed down even it’s not a 40% three-point shooter anymore a 38% shooter that’s taking 10 threes a game would help this offense tremendously um I I I can’t deny that but like tus Jones yeah he’s got a high assist rate but too really small not really a great defender um at the end of the day we know what this magic team likes we know how this magic team thinks and and how this magic team evaluates players and what they’re looking for in players and when you look out at free agency there just isn’t that perfect fit and maybe that’s asking too much and it probably is asking too much um I think that this summer is really about asking the magic what are you willing to compromise would you compromise your defense to add an excellent three-point shooter would you stay stagnant with your offense to double down on your defense do you believe that Jaylen Suggs can be your point guard can you handle another year with Pao banero essentially running point guard to add another shooter or add another Defender to to forgo any of the point guard options and even some of the point guard options in trades like Anthony Simons like Trey young like deante Murray they have their own questions too I would often say with trades by the way the thing that’s going to happen is probably not the thing we’re thinking about if we’re thinking about it they probably thought about and if they haven’t done it yet it’s probably not going to happen the only time the only time I would accept that is like when it was so obvious the magical training surge blocked the rap um to me there is no clear path or clear player in the trade market or in free agency that makes me go that’s the guy that’s the guy we have to get I mean maybe you could argue Darius gar maybe um I think his cost is too high I Cleveland would almost certainly ask for Jonathan Isaac or Jaylen sugs and I don’t think the magic are doing that and so free agency is not fun because a we don’t know what the magic are going to do and B ultimately Jeff welman has to make this decision about what he’s willing to risk and you know I I think Jeff wolman’s done a really good job um since the nicolea vuich trade making that trade being proactive about it that was a risk um getting ownership to jump on board with how bad the magic were for the previous six seven years getting the magic getting ownership to jump on board with another fullscale rebuild was a huge risk and they showed a lot of faith in welman and guess what welman has delivered and so the ultimate question next is okay now you’ve gotten us to this stage how do we get Beyond and we haven’t seen welman take that chance yet like even before when the magic made the playoffs in 2019 the magic just doubled down on their defense we all complained about it about the magic signing Al far rukam minu and obviously that deal did not work out because of injuries I argued like look the magic looked at their playoffs they saw that they lack some size off Off the Bench um that you know Pascal SE hakum was able to to Target Terence Ross in those closing lineups they didn’t trust J Jonathan Isaac yet they needed a starting level forward to kind of help give them some side continue to give them some size aluminu fit that bill I saw the logic in it it wasn’t the need I would have addressed you could go back and listen to those episodes from years ago um but that was really the last time the magic made a major free agency move like Joe Engles was adding a shooter but we all knew what he was and so this is this is the test for Jeff welman like all these reports all the things I talked about like they’re not coming from Magic people like Jake fiser I know has some some people connected with the magic like he did the story on Pao um late in the season um it’s all speculation with the magic do Bruce Brown deal maybe they’ve done it in the past with Joe Engles but I don’t think kavi scell pop is the target I think they love them at the mid level or that mid-level deal that I was talking about but I think they want one of the big fish I think they want someone significant they love to get them on that two-year deal on something that’s very flexible I think the magic want to keep Financial flexibility so they can be nimble and change paths if something doesn’t work I think they’re also at you know I think Jeff wman does value continuity I don’t think he wants to make a major change I think he knows he needs to add one starter somewhere but I don’t think he wants to add two if that makes sense I think he wants to build this thing very peac meal and so whatever the magic focus on adding to their roster this summer that’s what they’re going to focus on they’re not going to go out and do two things at once they’re not looking to reinvent the wheel here what the magic had last year was successful but at the end of the day there is no perfect solution there is no that’s the guy there’s a lot of flawed players who may or may not be the magic ideal but the magic got to pick one of them the magic got to decide on one of them this is not something they can punt down down the road this is not something they can say can say we’re going to leave this to next year because guess what the window closes after next season you got this summer and next summer next Summer’s free agent class is probably no better you got to set your table up you got to set the chessboard up for when you don’t have the money to spend because fron voger is about to be very expensive Paulo van Caro is about to be very expensive and the magic got to take care of themselves and put their team in a great position to win to not only win but to keep improving and sometimes that means an imperfect answer I know I just said I don’t like signing guys with the intention of trading them but you got to add someone that’s going to make your team better right now and give you someone that you can trade down the road give you someone that can help that can help you get the guy that will take you over the top to a championship team you can fill in the bench trust me if the magic do their jobs players veteran players will want to come play for the Orlando Magic if you do your job in the draft you will replace Talent with talent but finding those answers predicting what those answers are going to be for the magic is really tough because there isn’t a perfect answer there isn’t a guy that screams he’s ours and there’s no amount of money that can get that there’s no amount of money that seems to make sense for the players the magic should be or are thinking about because of those imperfections so it leaves the Magic in this really tricky place but this is what you want you want these opportunities you want to be able to make these decisions you want to have try and have these this flexibility and to be thinking these steps ahead because something worked with this team and now you got to make it all work again we’ve gone over a lot of free agents this past month but I don’t envy Jeff welman the decisions he has to make because like I was actually thinking about this today the magic kind of set the market for everybody like everyone’s going to be waiting to see what the mag magic do how much to Magic pay whoever they’re going to pay because that’s when everyone else starts to fall in line starts to fall in of okay this is how much I can make because this player made that that’s a very empowering place to be but it’s not a fun one with the options the magic have on the table I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of Locked on Magic course find me on Twitter Philip rror OMD subscribe to the podcast and apple podcast you’re tuned in him Google play Spotify Odyssey and all the FB podcast to your podcast enabled listening device be sure to check us out on YouTube subscribe to the YouTube channel as well we’ll do the live show on YouTube I’ll also probably set up a Twitter spaces when I do that live show I’ll announce what day I’m deciding to do that live show um probably tomorrow probably tomorrow or or Wednesday for sure we we I’ll have that that pinned down so just pencil in Saturday or Sunday uh for a quick Q&A or a quick live show we we you know even tweet at me tell me what tell me what you prefer I I want I want I want a place where I can get interaction so tell me when you want the live show to take place and I and I’ll I’ll plan it for then um that’s that’s me passing passing the bug uh for the latest down the Orlando Magic be sure check out orlandomagic daily.com you can find us there on Twitter Atomic daily also be sure to check out my patreon page orlandomagic Hub I just wrapped up my player evaluations for the season I will save Jamal Mosley and Jeff welman for after free agency and and after the draft a little bit perhaps um but you can check that out at patreon.com orlandomagic club and as always thank you for your support now that you this to be me to me be sure to check out the lockdown sportsday 247 streaming Channel on YouTube and now available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app lockdown Sports here for you 247 covering the top sports stories of the day with the local Experts of lockdown plus our national shows covering every leag find lock on Sports now available on the free Fire TV channels app I want to thank you all again for listening to today’s episode of lockdown Magic on tomorrow’s episode of lockdown magic we will chat NBA draft the prospects to um and what the magic might do and who might be the surprised player they pick um I think that that it’s starting to look very real that there could be a a really good player available at 18 but we’ll see we’ll see what happens um we’ll get to all that on tomorrow’s episode get you ready for the endme draft on tomorrow’s episode of lock on Magic but until then for Orlando Magic daily and lock on Magic this has been Philip Ross right we’ll see you again next time for another episode of lockon magic for

The Orlando Magic find themselves in a clear free agency dilemma. One of their top targets on the board opted out of the market, agreeing to re-sign with the Sacramento Kings. And it feels more and more like the Magic are not finding what they are looking for in free agency. Could that lead them to go for a short-term deal with someone like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope?

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